Find absconding accused, court tells CBI and CID

The judges asked the agencies to file further progress reports on December 14.

Narendra Dabholkar (Photo: PTI)

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Maharashtra Crime Investigation Department (CID) to take concrete steps to trace the absconding accused in connection with the killings of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and activist Govind Pansare.

The division bench of Justice S.C. Dharmadh-ikari and Justice Bharati Dangre issued this direction when both the probe agencies submitted their respective progress repo-rts in sealed envelopes before the court on Thursday.

“What are the steps taken to trace other accused? You must make more sincere efforts to trace other accused persons. You have dedicated teams to investigate both the cases and, therefore, more is expected out of you,” the bench said. The judges asked the agencies to file further progress reports on December 14.

While the CBI is investigating the murder of Dabholkar, the CID is probing the case Pansare’s killing. The bench observed that since the CBI and the CID had dedicated teams to investigate the murders of Dabholkar and Pansare, they must make a major headway in the cases in a time-bound manner.

Meanwhile, additional solicitor general Anil Singh, on behalf of the CBI, informed the court that one of the reasons for the delay in the probe is that the agency was waiting for a prior sanction from the state government to prosecute some persons in the case under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

CID counsel Ashok Mun-dargi told the bench the state agency had secured the custody of Amol Kale and officers are interrogating him. According to him, Kale is one of the alleged key conspirators in the murders of anti-superstition activist Dab-holkar and journalist Ga-uri Lankesh on November 15 this year. Kale is also an accused in the Pansare murder case.